Breaking News ForumUS study finds inner city doesn't raise asthma risk at News Forum - A US study out Tuesday including more than 23,000 children has debunked the long-standing belief that living in the inner ...

A US study out Tuesday including more than 23,000 children has debunked the long-standing belief that living in the inner city raises the risk of asthma. Instead, it found that being poor, African-American or Puerto Rican were more significant risk factors for asthma than urban living, said the findings by researchers at the John Hopkins University. The study published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology compared asthma rates inside cities to suburban and rural areas. Parents and caregivers of more than 23,000 children, ages six to 17, answered survey questions about asthma in their homes.

Good gut bacteria helps the lungs too...Study: Lack of 'Good' Bacteria May Put Babies at Higher Risk for Asthma September 30, 2015 - New research shows that babies who lack certain "good" bacteria in their intestines in the first months of life may be at higher risk of asthma. The study, published Wednesday in the journal Science Translational Medicine, identified four specific bacteria that experts think may protect children from developing asthma.

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In the study, researchers at the University of British Columbia tracked health records of 319 children from birth to age 3, and analyzed stool samples taken during infancy to check their gut bacteria. The first clue: There were 22 youngsters deemed very high risk because of early asthma warning signs — and at 3 months of age, all of them harbored much lower levels of the four specific gut bacteria than the other babies. That doesn't prove the missing bugs are protective.

Medical experts say asthma is on the rise in recent decades, particularity in Western nations.

But the researchers infected germ-free mice with an at-risk tot's stool sample alone, or with a supplement of the four "good'' bacteria. Restoring the missing bugs markedly reduced airway inflammation in the mice's offspring, they reported. Doctors are still unsure how these bacteria develop naturally in the immune system. But stool samples from one-year-olds didn't show much difference between the at-risk group and the rest, suggesting the first three months of life may be a critical time period, the researchers concluded. They speculated that cesarean section deliveries, antibiotics and use of formula instead of breast milk could have some effect on which good bacteria develop.

Wednesday's study raises the provocative possibility of one day altering tots' buildup of protective bugs, maybe through probiotics. "I want to emphasize that we're not ready for that yet,'' cautioned study co-author Dr. Stuart Turvey, a pediatric immunologist at the University of British Columbia and BC Children's Hospital. But a "vision for the future would be to prevent this disease.'' The British Columbia team has already begun testing samples from 500 more babies who are enrolled in a larger Canadian study exploring factors in the development of allergy and asthma. Medical experts say asthma is on the rise in recent decades, particularity in Western nations. The disease causes wheezing, breathing problems and coughing, and in some cases can be fatal.

Allergies could double the risk for chronic migraines in people who also have asthma...Asthma can make occasional migraines a chronic conditionNov. 30, 2015 - Researchers believe allergies could double the risk for chronic migraines in people who also have asthma.

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People who have occasional migraines and asthma are twice as likely as those without the breathing condition to develop chronic migraine attacks, according to a new study. Researchers at the University of Cincinnati and Montefiore Headache Center explored the link between migraines and asthma because they are similarly caused by inflammation, either of the blood vessels or airways. They theorize that if one is not directly caused by the other, they may be caused by the same allergens, suggesting allergies in some patients be treated more aggressively.

About 12 percent of the U.S. population gets migraine headaches, which are three times more common in women than men.

About 12 percent of the U.S. population gets migraine headaches, which are about three times more common in women than men, according to the National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke. People with chronic migraine get headaches 15 or more days per month. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports about 7 percent of American adults have asthma. "If you have asthma along with episodic or occasional migraine, then your headaches are more likely to evolve into a more disabling form known as chronic migraine," Dr. Vincent Martin, a professor of medicine at the University of Cincinnati, said in a press release. "The strength of the relationship is robust -- asthma was a stronger predictor of chronic migraine than depression, which other studies have found to be one of the most potent conditions associated with the future development of chronic migraine."

Researchers analyzed data on 4,446 people with a mean age of 50.4 years, with 80.8 percent of participants being women. The participants were split into two groups, people with asthma and people without it, and completed surveys in 2008 and 2009. The researchers asked about episodic migraines, frequency of headaches, medication usage, depression and smoking status. In the first survey, 17 percent of participants reported having asthma. Overall, 2.9 percent of people who completed the 2008 survey reported they developed chronic migraine by the 2009 survey. Of these participants, 5.4 percent had asthma in 2008, versus 2.5 percent who did not have it.

Previous studies have shown people with asthma are more likely to have allergies, and people with allergies are more likely to have headaches, researchers said. An overactive parasympathetic nervous system may contribute to the potential of developing one or both conditions, which they said is also a reaction to allergens in the environment. "If allergies are the trigger it begs the question: Should we treat allergies more aggressively in these patients?" Martin said. The study is published in the journal Headache.

Serious PMS may be early sign of high blood pressureNov. 28, 2015 -- Researchers have discovered a link between symptoms of premenstrual syndrome and high blood pressure among women.

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According to a study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology this week, women with PMS symptoms may develop hypertension later in life. While following roughly 3,500 women over the course of two decades, researchers associated with the University of Massachusetts found those who experienced PMS were 40 percent more likely to develop hypertension later in life.

A new study suggests women who experience PMS symptoms may experience hypertension -- or high blood pressure -- later in life.

Symptoms of PMS include, but are not limited to mood swings, abdominal pain, breast tenderness, headaches and bloating. Previously known risk factors for hypertension include high body mass index, smoking, drinking and age. "To my knowledge, this is the first large, long-term study to suggest that PMS may be related to risk of chronic health conditions in later life," lead author Elizatbeth Bertone-Johnson said in a press release.

Females younger than 40 who experienced PMS were found to be more closely linked to eventual high blood pressure, the report said. However, women who consumed high amounts of thiamine and riboflavin -- B vitamins -- were less likely to receive hypertension diagnoses.

Study: Added progesterone no help to pregnant women with miscarriage historyNov. 26, 2015 -- Progesterone supplements given to pregnant women who have had multiple miscarriages may not prevent another miscarriage, according to new research from the University of Birmingham.

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A five-year study of 826 women with unexplained recurrent miscarriages showed those who received progesterone supplements in early pregnancy were no less likely to miscarry than those who received a placebo. The findings, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, said the same was true no matter what age, ethnicity, medical history or pregnancy history. Progesterone supplements have been used for more than 60 years to prevent miscarriages in early pregnancy. The study found 65.8 percent of women given progesterone gave birth to a baby compared to 63.3 percent who did not take the supplement.

Progesterone supplements given to pregnant women who have had multiple miscarriages may not prevent another miscarriage, a new study found.

Professor Arri Coomarasamy, lead author of the study, acknowledged the findings may be difficult for some to accept because of the long-standing notion progesterone will help support a pregnancy. "We had hoped, like many people, that this research would confirm progesterone as an effective treatment," she said. "Though disappointing, it does address a question that has remained unanswered since progesterone was first proposed as a treatment back in 1953. Fortunately, there are a number of other positives that we can take from the trial as a whole."

The study is being lauded as the first well-designed test of the topic. Women participated in the trial at 36 locations in Britain and nine in the Netherlands. Neither the doctors nor the patients knew whether they were receiving the supplements, in the form of vaginal suppositories, or not. The study also found added progesterone does not cause harm to the baby or mother and it may have other uses "such as preventing miscarriage in women with early pregnancy bleeding, so it's not the end of the road," Coomarasamy said.